My first race was in April of 2006. Now most people I believe would start off with a 5k or a nice flat half marathon, but not my wife and I. We chose “The Race to Robie Creek”, the toughest half marathon in the North West, located in Boise, ID. Runner’s World did an article on Robie Creek calling it “Best Bragging Rights” in 2008.

I hadn’t done much running before 2006. I’d played a lot of basketball, softball, a little rugby in college but I’d never really just gone out and ran.

I had neck surgery to fuse a couple of discs in my back in 2005. After this surgery I took to running a couple of miles 3 to 5 times a week. I couldn’t really do any lifting or jumping in basketball so this was my way to keep in shape.

A couple of buddies that I went to college with and played softball with talked me into running longer distances with them on Saturdays. They eventually talked my wife and I into running “The Race to Robie Creek” with them. I’ve been running longer distances ever since. Our group meets up every Saturday for a longer run and it continues to grow.

After running 4 or 5 marathons we decided to tackle some Triathlons. In June of 2009 a few of my friends in our running group decided to start their triathlon career with the Boise Half Ironman. I started mine about a month or so later in the Boise Spudman. A couple of months later I did the tri in Emmett Idaho.

Currently I’m training for the 2010 Boise Half Ironman which two other friends are racing with me. A few of the others in our group are doing the 2010 Coeur d’ Alene Ironman.

4 years later and I still can’t wait for Saturday mornings to go running with the group. The wife and I love running with this group and they are now among some of our closest friends. I’d have to say that this is the number one way to stay motivated, train with friends.